Daily Blog

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(Photo by Gregory Case Photography)

Pssst! It has come to our attention that there are some 'Beary' Big events taking place at Quilt Festival this Fall in Houston.  Lips are tightly sealed and all parties involved have been sworn to secrecy.  But, like any good detective, we have uncoverd some clues. Prime suspects include these two individuals (one of which is trying to hide his identity):

(Photo by Gregory Case Photography)

We know that there are a number of others involved...and Mary Kay is hot on their trail...Here are a few of the clues she has discovered while on an all night stakeout. 
She found a thumb drive that had been dropped outside of Festival offices with files titled listing by the following initials:
WG, AA, KF, VFW, LK, LJ, KB, THM, RT, NB, JF, BG, GF, SN, RA, SB, LM, AA, RM, TM, MC, LY. 
Do any of these initials mean anything to you?

The thumb drive also had a few images. Do you recognize the handy work of anyone you know?
We are asking the public to come forward to help us with this mystery.

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If you've watched Show 1905: Animal Portraits, you'll know that Barbara Yates Beasley says that it is all about getting the eyes "right" and finding the soul of the animal.  She certainly does that in this wonderful portrait of "Charlie."  His eyes draw you right into the quilt.

CharliebyBarbaraYatesBeasley - 36 Pieces Non-Rotating

CharliebyBarbaraYatesBeasley - 100 Pieces Non-Rotating

CharliebyBarbaraYatesBeasley - 289 Pieces Non-Rotating

CharliebyBarbaraYatesBeasley - 36 Pieces Rotating

CharliebyBarbaraYatesBeasley - 100 Pieces Rotating

CharliebyBarbaraYatesBeasley - 289 Pieces Rotating

Original Photo: Gregory Case

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If you've watched Show 1905: Animal Portraits, you'll know that Barbara Yates Beasley says that it is all about getting the eyes "right" and finding the soul of the animal.  She certainly does that in this wonderful portrait of "Charlie."  His eyes draw you right into the quilt.

Original Photo: Gregory Case

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Rachel John broke records by knitting with a 1000 strands simultaneously! Watch as they set up the event and the actual event itself which took place at the Southhill Park Unravel Textiles exhibition in October of 2006.

Rachel writes,

It is a challenge for all of us to take the waste products that our society produces and to put it to good use. This video was made in order to stimulate that process.

No yarn was wasted in the making of this installation - the yarn will be put to good use when the piece has finished circulating as a 1st in the world example of taking multi strand to the limits. - - - - -

Over half the yarn in the installation was deemed as waste for shredding - this is normally made into felted pads which is then used in applications such as padding/stuffing for sofas, mattresses etc. - - - - - -

The rest of the yarn was out of fashion yarn that was sitting on the manufacturers shelves. None of the yarn was of the good to best quality that stuff is kept for very practical purposes. - - - - - -

In the making of this we were taking the waste yarn and turning it in to a mattress without the need for reprocessing. - - - - - -

We are very eco conscious and would never waste materials as a matter of course. All trimmings - no matter how small - are collected for use as filler for a variety of purposes such as cushions, so not even a centimetre of yarn is considered waste in this studio. - - - - - -

We also have what we call a spinners collection of fibres. We were very inspired by a lady from New Zealand who collected every single hair, every bit of fibre, all possible spinning material and when her stash was enough she would spin it in to yarn. She would then use the yarn in the normal way. The work she produced was wonderful and always, always practical. She never bought yarn she always made it from sweepings. - - - - - - -

 

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This quilt is called Mirkwood. Ricky made it from raw edge fabric snippets that were put in place using temporary spray adhesive. The top was placed over Ricky Tims Stable Stuff Poly (a medium weight tear-away stabilizer that is polyester based). Then the bits are stitched with free motion stitching but notice that the stitches are really huge.

Ricky does this by moving the needle fairly slowly up and down, then moving the quilt so that the stitches will jump at a length of about a quarter-inch or so. This movement is zig-zaggy to create random stitches going in all directions.

When the quilt is layered, it is quilted with the same sort of quilting over the fabric confetti area and then the open spaces were quilted with meandering echo quilting.

Yes, the name Mirkwood is a nod to the dark forest in The Hobbit.

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Barbara Yates Beasley is known for her animal portrait quilts. Here is a wonderful selection of those quilts that will bring a smile to your face, a tear to your eye, and a tug at your heart.

Many of these quilts are available for sale. Click here to go to Barbara's website.

Star Members can watch Barbara in Show 1905: Animal Portraits.